Italiano returns, but Bologna frustrated down to 10 men

Vincenzo Italiano made his return to the Bologna bench, but sent his assistant manager to describe a frustrating draw with SK Brann when down to 10 men. ‘We deserved to win.’

This was a special occasion in any case, as it saw Italiano return to the touchline for the first time in three weeks, having been in hospital undergoing treatment for pneumonia.

He was wrapped up warm on the bench and got increasingly heated, especially after Charalampos Lykogiannis received a controversial straight red card, leaving Bologna down to 10 men at the 23rd minute.

Despite the disadvantage, they dominated the second half and had numerous scoring opportunities, left frustrated by the goalless draw with Norwegians SK Brann.

Italiano sent assistant manager Daniel Niccolini to speak to Sky Sport Italia after the final whistle.

“We saw a great reaction from the whole team, we were solid, defended with tooth and nail for those chances that Brann did create, it’s just a pity we had those opportunities to win it in the final minute,” Niccolini noted.

“It was a great team performance and we deserved to win today.”

Following the Lykogiannis red card, Bologna introduced Juan Miranda in place of Giovanni Fabbian, and it was difficult to tell that they were down to 10 men.

“We opted to move to 4-2-3 so that we could remain aggressive and not drop too deep. We told the players at half-time to play with quality, grit and determination, aiming to win the game, and we very nearly managed it too.”

Lykogiannis got the ball first and Emil Kornig cut in front of him, so the boot slid up the ankle and caught him much higher than intended, but when seen in slow-motion, it looks far worse.

“From the touchline, it looked like he had got the ball first and the momentum kept him going. I think in Italy they might’ve gone back and viewed it again, but they didn’t call from the VAR. We were down to 10 men for over 70 minutes, it was tough,” noted the assistant manager.

“We put so many crosses and corners in, we pushed so hard, and I don’t remember any particularly tough Lukasz Skorupski saves either.”

The statistics from UEFA show that the hosts had 54 per cent possession and 16 total attempts compared to eight for Brann.

This result puts Bologna in 24th place, hovering one point above the elimination places in the Europa League table, on five points from four games.